The World's Largest Retail Convenience Store

Historically the retail convenience stores attached to gas stations are small in size with a limited selection of essential household and automotive products, along with a small selection of packaged and prepared takeout food and beverages. But the largest convenience store in the world is neither small nor limited, and rivals some full-size grocery stores and discount department stores in terms of store size, square footage, product variety and selection, and retail sales floor space.

Surprisingly, the world' largest retail store is not part of a major convenience store chain run by the biggest gas station companies like ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Because of its size and product mix, some might argue that the world's largest convenience store is not a convenience store at all. So, what is the world’s largest convenience store and where is it located?

Buc-ee's In New Braunfels, Texas

With 67,000 square feet of retail sales space, Buc-ee’s in New Braunfels, Texas is acknowledged to be the world’s largest convenience store. To compare, you could fit 22 average sized 7-Eleven convenience stores inside this world’s largest Buc-ee’s. Two average sized Whole Foods stores could fit inside the New Braunfels Buc-ee’s. Wal-Mart’s Neighborhood Market stores are almost 40% smaller than Buc-ee’s world’s largest store.

The Buc-ee’s World’s Largest Store was not the first Buc-ee’s convenience store.

Buc-ee’s was founded by Arch “Beaver” Aplin and Don Wasek when they opened their first Buc-ee’s convenience store in Lake Jackson, Texas. The concept behind this first location was cheap ice cream and clean restrooms. The formula was popular with customers, so the Buc-ee’s chain slowly expanded, along with the concept itself and, obviously, the size of its stores. The New Braunfels world’s largest Buc-ee’s opened on May 7, 2012.

Besides having the world’s largest designation, the New Braunfel’s Buc-ee’s has also been recognized as having the World’s Cleanest Restrooms by Cintas business supply company.

This would be a notable accomplishment for any convenience store, but particularly for this Buc-ee’s location, which has 83 restroom stalls to keep clean 24/7.

Much more than a retail space attached to gas station pumps, the “convenience” features of the world’s largest Buc-ee’s convenience store in New Braunfels, Texas include:

60 gas pumps

67,000 square-foot convenience store

18 acres site

250 employees

1,000 parking spaces

Open 24/7

31 cash registers

4 Icee machines

80 soda fountain dispensers

Voted the "Best Restroom in America" by B2B supply company Cintas in 2012

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